A real post......finally = )

Since I am so behind on updating my Blog, this is going to be one giant recap of the past couple of weeks. So here goes….

As I am sure most of you know, last Sunday was Easter. However, in Spain and especially in Andalucía, the celebration starts a week before Easter and this week is called Semana Santa (Holy Week). Because of Semana Santa, I had another 10-day break. I decided not to travel anywhere outside of Andalucía because I wanted to experience all of the festivities of Holy Week in Spain.

Saturday 3/15-Sunday 3/16 - The first part of the break, I went to the beach with two of my friends from the program. We went to a small town in the Costa Del Sol called Nerja. The first day there (Saturday) it was kind of chilly and a little windy so we didn’t get to fully enjoy the beach and sunshine. We had beautiful weather on Sunday and were able to go out and enjoy the beach, warmth, and sunshine. The town is beautiful. There is a famous spot there called the “Balcón de Europa” and there is a great view of the mountains and coastline of the beaches. It is definitely a place I would visit again – for the beaches and I also want to see the famous caves of Nerja.

Monday 3/17 - My friends and I spent Monday in Granada. We were able to see our first Semana Santa processions. In order for any of what I am going to say to make sense, I think I must bore you with a little history lesson. Semana Santa has been a tradition in Andalucía for hundreds of years and with the declining number of “practicing catholics” it is becoming just that – more of a tradition and a thing that must be done every year than a display of faith and Christianity. Nonetheless, each of the larger churches in Granada (and most of the other cities in Andalucía as well) has a brotherhood that organizes their procession for Semana Santa. Each procession usually contains two pasos (statues) – one representing Jesus and the other representing the Virgin Mary. There are people that walk in the processions – los penitentes (people that wear outfits similar to the KKK for purposes of anonymity and some even spend the duration of the procession walking the streets without shoes), las manolas – women that dress all in black with veils of black lace and carry candles and finally there are los costaleros – these are the people that carry the statues. They all walk underneath and it takes a lot of practice and following the strict cadence of the drums to make it work. I am amazed at the people who are part of these processions. Some of them would last as long as five or six hours each. Each procession also has a band and a drum line. There is no way to accurately describe the sound of the band except to use the word squeaky. I think they find people for these bands that only play their instruments once a year for Semana Santa and do not practice otherwise. However, by the end of the week, it had almost become a comforting sound. I will describe a few of them in more detail but I must stick to my chronology of the week!

Tuesday 3/18 – Wednesday 3/19 – I had the privilege of going to Almuñecar (another small town in the Costa del Sol) with my señora and señor (Paco and Pilar). Their daughter and her husband and their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter were also there. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my family here and to bond a little. We spent some time at the beach and even watched a procession pass through the streets of Almuñecar. We went out for tapas and drinks on Tuesday night and I ate dried octopus! It was not too bad and I would definitely eat it again. The rest of the family stayed until Thursday night but I took a bus back from Almuñecar to Granada on Wednesday afternoon so that I could be home for dinner with my friend’s parents. My friend Liz (who I knew before coming to Granada) invited my other friend Emilee and I to dinner and a Flamenco show with she and her parents. It was so much fun. We went to Venta El Gallo which is the same place we all saw a Flamenco show at the beginning of our stay in Granada. We had a great 4-course dinner and watched the show while we ate. After we ate, we waited around for a while to see the Procession of the Gypsies (one of the most famous of Granada). It was raining during the procession and it didn’t help that they were climbing a huge hill with the floats to get to Sacramonte (the neighborhood that is highly populated with gypsies and is located in the caves of the mountains very close to the Alhambra). The teamwork of the costaleros and encouragement of the thousands of people who came out to watch the procession was just amazing.

Thursday 3/20 – Saturday 3/23 – I did not do much for the rest of the week. I stayed in Granada and watched processions and relaxed. Thursday night, a big group of us watched the Procession of Silence at 1:00am! It was a very cool procession but one that I might only want to see once. They turned off all of the lights in the city wherever the procession went and everyone is silent as it passes. The men are all dressed in black, along with the women and the only sound comes from one drum (just to keep the cadence). There was only one statue and it was of Jesus. There was a person near the end of the procession who was wearing chains around his feet and they were dragging on the ground and making a very grim sound (to represent the death of Jesus). It was a very powerful image. The last procession that I really liked was on Saturday and it was the only one that occurred that day. It was the procession from the Alhambra and the float contained the famous statue of Mary holding Jesus. The base of the float was very cool and had details similar to the Alhambra.

Sunday 3/24 – Easter Sunday. It was weird to be away from my family for Easter but I made it through. I did not wake up to an Easter basket full of candy but my friends did give me a little basket the next day and I was very happy. I went to church with Liz and Emilee and it was nice. I took communion for the first time in Spain. I had been trying to respect the catholic tradition of communion (since I am not catholic) but I could not imagine abstaining from communion on Easter. What they don’t know won’t hurt them!

Monday was back to the daily grind of class and homework. It was hard to get used to being back in class but we all adjusted well. I have one more class today and then it’s another one of those great 3-day weekends that we have every week! I am going to Cordoba tomorrow with a group from our Spanish school (Cegrí). I am excited and have heard that it is beautiful. The thing that I am most excited about, though, is the arrival of my parents in 5 days! They get in at 1pm on Tuesday (4/1) and I can’t wait. I am so excited to take them around Spain. We are going to spend the weekend that they are here in Barcelona. I will try and do my best to keep everyone updated of our adventures while they are here.

It is hard to believe that half of my time here is gone. It is going to be a bittersweet day when I leave at the end of June. But I will deal with that when the time comes.

Hasta Luego,

Em

I am terribly sorry to keep you all waiting but there have been so many interesting things to do in Spain lately that I have found myself lacking a significant amount of time to write all of them down on my blog. I will have more time this afternoon and will update then!
Hasta luego,
Em

Hiking, Beaches, and class

Hello everyone!
So I think I have finally figured out my final schedule after making several changes and being very frustrated. I am still taking all of the same classes at Cegri (the language center). At the University of Granada, I am taking Sociology of the Religions and now my new class is called History of the Comic. I don't really know anything about comics but I guess I will learn. There are a few other U of M students in that class and that will be good so that we can help each other with readings and understanding what the lectures are about. It is such a relief. AHHHH
So this past weekend I got to do a lot of fun things. Two of my other friends from Michigan and I went hiking/walking/climbing in some mountains in a small town just in the outskirts of Granada. It was a lot of work but well worth it. We eventually made it to the top of a small mountain and we sat and had a picnic lunch. It was really fun. Then on Friday, we took a day trip to Malaga to go to the beach. We took a bus at 11am (which we realized was way too late because the bus trip took longer than we thought it would and we didn't get to Malaga until 1 pm). We then took a nice long walk to get to the beach. It was nice - the weather was warm but it was a little hazy and cloudy at times. Malaga is a pretty city but seems pretty touristy because of the beach.
On Saturday afternoon I caught a bus to Marbella on the Costa del Sol to meet up with some family friends and their son (the Goldsen's). I got into Marbella around 6:30pm and Mr. Goldsen picked me up from the bus station. We had a very nice spanish dinner complete with tapas and paella at a restaurant called "La Pesquera" which was recommended to us by someone at the resort. On Sunday, we went to Gibraltar (well I didn't technically go there because I forgot my passport and they would not let me through). I did get to see the rock and the water around it was a beautiful shade of turquoise blue. We then took a very scenic drive through the mountains to a quaint little town in Andalucia called Ronda. I don't think we drove in a straight line for more than about 1/2 Km. But it was worth it for all of the amazing views we had of the mountains. Once we were in Ronda, we visited the plaza de toros there (the oldest one in Spain) and also saw that gorge and huge bridge that goes across part of the old town in Ronda. It was such a cute town. We also had dinner at an italian place and had pizza. It was a very fun and eventful day!
We left Monday morning to return to Granada because I had class at 9AM! I met back up with the Goldsens after they saw the Alhmabra. We visited the Cathedral in granada and then had a nice lunch before they headed out. It was so nice to spend some time with people from home and to see some familiar faces. Now I only have 3 weeks until mom and dad will be here to visit! I can hardly wait.
I can tell that my spanish is improving and I am very excited. I hope that things only continue to get better and better!!
Hasta luego,
Em

This will be a quick post but I just had to give an update on the weather since the last time I posted it was rainy and gloomy. Well, today was MUCH better. It was sunny but there were some clouds. The best part, though, was the fact that it was 19 degrees.......celsius! Here is a quick conversion for you: 19 degrees C = 67 degrees F. It really is starting to feel like spring here. Some of the trees and flowers are blooming and it´s wonderful. I still can´t imagine what the weather will be like in the summer if I am already peeling off layers of clothing when it is not even 70 degrees. The summers in Granada sometimes reach 110 or higher! Ahhh.
Anyways, things are good for a Monday!
Hasta Luego,
Emily

Week One of University Classes

I was able to find out this week what university classes are like in another country. I am taking two classes at the University of Granada. One is called ¨Sociology of the Religions¨ and as for my other class....well that is still being figured out. I am enrolled in a class called ¨Introduction to the Music of Al-Andalus¨ which is a class about music during the Arab reign of Spain. It seemed interesting until I went to the class both days last week and the professor launched into two lectures about ideas and concepts that I don´t even think I could understand in English, let alone in her rapid Spanish. She was writing arabic words on the board and it was so hard to follow what she was saying. Another one of my friends from the University of Michigan is also in the class and he has been just as lost as me. I think for the sake of my sanity I need to find another class. I tested out another class that seemed interesting and ran into just the same problems. It was called ¨Technoscience, Culture and Medicine.¨ I thought it would be intertesting since my major is medicine and science -related. However, there were 8 people in the class and most were native spanish speakers. There were three American girls but one had been here since September and could understand/speak well and the other one had only been in Granada for three weeks but was very good at spanish. We had to split into two groups of 4 to discuss a list of questions about our opinion on many different challenging questions (that once again I could barely think of a sentence to defend my opinion in English, let alone contribute anything positive to the conversation in Spanish). So I don´t think that is the answer to my problem. I have all of next week to change classes so I am going to keep looking for more options.
It was a frustrating week. We are all hitting the point in our trip where it is just frustrating to not be able to fully communicate with people. It was ok to completely struggle for the first month but now it just seems irritating. Oh well, we will all keep plugging away and keep practicing. It doesn´t help that the beautiful weather we were having for over a month seems to have disappeared for a while. It has been cloudy, gray, and rainy for the past three days! No fun!! But I won´t complain too much since it is not snowing or below 20 degrees outside.
Well that´s about it for now from Spain. I hope everyone is doing well! I can´t believe February is almost gone! Time is just flying by!
Emily

Vacation in Spain

No need to worry....I am still alive and well! The past week we had a break from school and my friend and I took a trip to Barcelona and Madrid. Most people went to Italy, Paris, London, and other assorted cities in Europe but Liz and I wanted to explore Spain.
First, we went to Barcelona. We were there from Friday (2/8) to Monday (2/11). Liz has a friend that is studying in Barcelona and so she played tour guide for us. We saw so much of the city in two days. We saw many of the little neighborhoods of Barcelona (Barceloneta, Olympic village, and some assorted other places). We saw Gaudi's houses - we did not go inside for a lack of time and a desire to save some money. He seemed like an interesting guy (Gaudi). My favorite part of Barcelona was Park Guell - Gaudi's park that he designed. It is absolutely huge (over 70 acres) and is just a little piece of heaven. Most of the park is decorated with mosaics of colored glass. There is a great view of the city from the top of one of the platforms. There are also two little house/cottages in the park that look like gingerbread houses. It is hard to give it justice just describing it but if you ever have a chance to get to park guell - it's a definite must in Barcelona.
We also visited Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece. It is absolutely monsterous - it takes up an entire block. We went to the FC Barcelona museum and it was fun. There was a lot of memorabilia from many years of the club's existence. We were able to go inside the stadium and look around and it was very cool.
Barcelona has a very metropolitan feel - almost like a mix of New York and Miami. The city is very spread out so we took the metro a lot and it was a very convenient way to get around. We were able to stay in Liz's friend's apartment and cooked our own food. It was very different from all of my home-cooked meals at my homestay.
After our stay in Barcelona, we took a flight to Madrid. We arrive Monday night and stayed in a hostel. It was very small but got the job done. We did a lot of museums in Madrid. We went to the Prado, Reina Sofia, and Thyssen-Bornemizsa. They were all very cool and I was glad that we went to all of them - but I don't really want to go to another art museum for a while! We also went to the Palacio Real, Palacio de Comunicaciones, Fuente de Cibeles, Plaza Mayor, Parque de Buen Retiro (a huge park in Madrid with some awesome things to see - definitely a must see if you go to Madrid), and we wandered by some other random places. Liz and I agreed that Madrid has the feeling of Washington D.C.
I really like both of the cities but was very happy to return to Granada (it is great because it seems like home now!) My classes at the University of Granada tomorrow. I am taking Sociology of Religion and Music of Al-Andalus. It should be interesting to see how they compare to classes at U of M. We only have four more weeks of class and then another break for Semana Santa (not that I am looking forward to another break already - haha!)
I am sorry it took me so long to update my blog. I will try to be better at it! I hope everyone is doing well!
Emily

Boring Week

I apologize for not writing sooner but it has been a pretty uneventful week and weekend. I will fill you in on a few of the more exciting events.
I began reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I have read it in English and now am attempting to read it in Spanish. It is difficult but a welcomed challenge because I am looking up the words that I don´t know and am learning new vocabulary everyday. I love to sit in one of the many parks in Granada and read for a while. I find it very relaxing and a good way to spend a few hours.
My friend Patrick and I decided to give the Cathedral another try this past Sunday. We went to the service at 12. It was interesting...very cold inside the cathedral. I picked up a lot of the sermon but the scripture readings were a little confusing. We said the Apostles Creed and the Lord´s Prayer - both of which were very interesting to hear in Spanish. It was so strange to hear something that I have known for most of my life in another language.
We have a break starting on Thursday (the 7th of February). My friend Liz and I are going to Barcelona for a few days (8th-11th) and then we are flying to Madrid (on the 11th). We have no plans beyond that. We will probably stay in Madrid for three or four days and then possibly go to Valencia or to Malaga to spend some time soaking up the sun on the beach!
I am sorry I don´t have anything too exciting to say. I am sure I will have lots of things to say after returning from my trip! I hope everyone is doing well!
Hugs from Granada!
Em